Four-year-old Abdul Rehman Assaf turns around to see who is coming in for prayer as he sits next to his father, Mahmoud Assaf, shortly before afternoon prayer during Ramadan at the Islamic Center of Lawrence on Friday. Despite some recent violent and intimidating acts against Muslims in the U.S., many local Muslims regard Lawrence as a very accepting community.

Men kneel for afternoon prayer on Friday, Sept. 3, 2010, at the Islamic Center of Lawrence. Many Muslims in Lawrence say the city’s diverse cultural makeup makes it very accepting of different faiths.

When the news broke about a recent case of arson at the future site of a mosque in suburban Tennessee, Lawrence-area Muslim Asra Haq said her phone started ringing.

Even though the fire happened several states over, non-Muslim members of the Lawrence community offered Haq help and prayer.

“They called asking, ‘Are you OK?'” Haq said. It was “an overwhelming show of support.”

The arson case, the debate about the building of a mosque a couple of blocks from ground zero, and scattered violent actions against Muslims in the United States dominate the recent headlines about strained Muslim relations in the country.

But for area Muslims such as Haq, Lawrence has always provided a safe and accepting environment, regardless of what’s occurring in the rest of the world.

“It’s been great here,” she said. Haq graduated from Kansas University in 1988, and returned with her family in 2005. She said her two children, one a student at Free State High and the other at Deerfield School, have never been subjected to any form of discrimination in Lawrence.

Ala Abdul-Halim, a Kansas University pharmacy and business student, has had similarly positive experiences. He first came to Lawrence from Palestine just months after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said he was initially concerned how he would be treated as a Muslim during such a sensitive time. Those concerns, however, melted away as he entered KU and began interacting with the Lawrence community.

“I was really surprised how they treated me. They were very kind,” Abdul-Halim said recently at the Islamic Center of Lawrence, which offers services to hundreds of area Muslims.

Since 1962, the Muslim community has had a visible presence in Lawrence, starting at KU and eventually moving to the Islamic Center’s current location near campus at 1917 Naismith Drive. While statistics aren’t available for the Muslim population in Lawrence, Baha Safadi, director of the center, estimates the local Muslim population at more than 1,000. He said about 400 attend the various services at the center.

Positive conversations

Lawrence sisters and Johnson County Community College students Amani and Jenan Helwani, both Muslims, say they’re often approached about the hijabs — the traditional Muslim head scarves — they wear in public.

“Mostly people ask questions. ‘Why do you wear that? What’s it for? What does it mean?'” Amani said.

The sisters, who grew up in Kansas City but moved to Lawrence a year ago, say the questions aren’t critical, but rather part of a healthy curiosity from area residents that usually leads to positive conversations about their religion.

Combine that with a diverse campus comprised of various faith communities, and it’s easy to understand why the people in Lawrence are respectful of Muslims.

“Here in Lawrence, people being exposed to other cultures leaves no choice but to be educated or want to be educated,” Amani said.

That part of the Lawrence culture leaves Haq hopeful that Lawrence will continue its tradition of acceptance of all faiths.

She said she does closely monitor the scattered cases of violence and discrimination against Muslims around the country, but the thought of anything similar happening in Lawrence doesn’t even cross her mind.

“Anything can happen at any time,” she said. But, “I don’t really have fear. That’s not what the people of Lawrence are all about.”